The Associated PressNorthwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald said his team is motivated by the chance to take the next step and become a consistent Big Ten challenger and bowl winner.

Mid-summer is a time of optimism for most Division I college football coaches, and Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald is no exception.

"I think the team's hungry. I'll go back to when I first got here (as a player). It was, "Man, we're going to go to a bowl game someday." Then look at where we're at today,'' he said in an extensive interview on the school's website. "The young men who're in the program have changed that expectation. They've raised the bar. They've raised the level. We still look up and say, "We've got a long way to go." Meaning, to where we want to go. Then once we get there, we'll talk about staying there. But that's athletics and life.''

You can real the full Q and A with NUsports.com Special Contributor Skip Myslenski here.

The Wildcats are Syracuse University's season-opening opponent, Sept. 1 in the Carrier Dome.